Cameron Hull pulled in a cool $1,079.75 for his 5.5/7 performance in the Philly Open U1800 section last weekend. In case you’re curious what it takes to put together such a performance, I’ve included his games below. That same weekend, the Northeast High School Girls Volleyball championship was being held in Philly as well, and our hotel was packed with dorky chess players and 17 year old high school volley ball girls. The record for the most awkward elevator ride ever was broken three times. Cameron decided to scope out the hotel pool “just in case,” but decided to retire back to the hotel room after swimming two laps next to screaming children playing marco polo.

Back to chess, the move 39.b5 in his third round game against Vladimir Gramugin was likely the star move of the tournament for him, and for the next two rounds Cameron was in clear first until his odd loss in round 6 on Sunday Morning.

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On the way back to Brooklyn, his car broke down on the Verrazano bridge and we coasted into a gas station in Bay ridge around 1 in the morning. This was rather unpleasant as I had to be up at 6 in the morning to teach the next morning, though I have to admit I was not surprised as I had predicted that this would happen. Luckily, we were at least back in New York City (technically), and I was able to jump into a cab that was trying to get gas before the driver knew what was what we were on our way back to williamsburg. All in all, I’d have to say that the trip was a success, even if a portion of his winnings will be eaten by up the cost of a new fan belt.